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The American French Film Festival unveiled the full-line up of its upcoming edition at a press conference at the Résidence de France in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, as the event returns after a one-year hiatus due to the Hollywood strikes.

The 28th edition, running October 29 to November 3 in the Director’s Guild of America Theatre Complex, will showcase 60 films and series, with 14 shorts, 14 Series and TV movies, and 32 feature films and documentaries, many of which are International, North American and U.S. premiere presentations.

As previously announced the event will be book-ended by Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez as the opening film and The Count of Monte Cristo, which will close the event.

The American French Film Festival was created and is produced by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a collaboration between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers...

Following a fully online 2021 event, a hybrid 2022 and last year’s 2023 comeback edition that saw most European distributors still struggling to stay afloat in a barely post-pandemic world, this year’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris was a “typical” market. And in 2024, typical is great.

“We haven’t had a typical market in four years. Everyone was back,” enthused Gilles Renouard, head of cinema for Rendez-Vous organiser Unifrance.

“Buyers are definitely more future-oriented,” he continued. “Last year, they were scared to buy films for theatrical release, but now they are confident in films that can work in their territories...

Patrice Leconte will present Maigret Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival The French Film Festival UK has announced its programme for its 30th anniversary edition, which will run at venues across the UK in November and December this year.

The festival will open with Eric Gravel's race-against-time drama Full Time at London's Cine Lumiere on November 2, with the director in attendance for a Q&a.

Other key films in this year's programme include Lukas Dhont's Close, which won the Cannes Grand Prix this year and Patrice Leconte's Maigret, starring Gerard Depardieu. Leconte will present the film in London on November 10 and in Edinburgh on November 11. Wilfried Méance and Olivier Ducray will also present their comedy Two Of A Kind in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Chichester on November 16, 17 and 18 respectively. Other guests are scheduled to include Charlotte Gainsbourg and Blandine Lenoir.

In a statement the festival said: "For three decades...

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Film festivals entertain, inspire and often can launch new talent in front and behind the camera. But few festivals, especially in the U.S., run purpose-built programs to develop young audiences.

Going into its 26th edition, the American French Film Festival (the L.A.-based festival focused on French cinema and formerly known as Colcoa) has hosted Southern California high school students since 2008. The festival now opens its theater doors at the Los Angeles DGA to more than 3,000 students a year. This year, the total number of high schoolers to have watched a French film at the festival over the years will tick above 32,000.

It all started with an idea hatched by the American French Film Festival (Tafff) founder François Truffart to invite students to share in the Francophone fun, says Pascal Ladreyt, who heads up the foundation European Languages and Movies in...

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The American French Film Festival is set to open with a North American premiere for Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Notre-Dame on Fire on Oct. 10.

Annaud, who will attend the festival, is bringing his latest film, which re-creates the events of April 15, 2019, when the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, prompting a heroic rescue of the celebrated church.

The festival, formerly called Colcoa, will end on Oct. 16 with Dominik Moll’s thriller The Night of the 12th screening at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles. The American French Film Festival will dedicate its annual Focus on a Filmmaker spotlight to Moll and will also close with Irma Vep, Olivier Assayas’ HBO remake of his 1996 film, which had a world theatrical premiere at the festival.

In all, 75 films and series and 20 short films were unveiled as part of the festival’s 2022 lineup during a press conference on Tuesday.

Colcoa is keeping up with the times. Now in its twenty-first year, the lauded French film festival, sponsored by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, has added a pair of forward-thinking new categories for its newest edition. This year will include a virtual reality program and a web series competition, in addition to its Cinema, Television and Shorts competitions.

“These two new popular formats offer more opportunities to showcase the creativity of French producers and filmmakers as well as the diversity of French production,” said François Truffart, Colcoa Executive Producer and Artistic Director. “While entertainment is still the key word for the program, with a balanced mix of comedies and dramas, several topical issues will cover the program this year, including the environment, discrimination, racism, terrorism, and the role of the artist in society. More than ever, Colcoa will offer a unique opportunity to see these universal topics from different angles.”

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